War Is Hell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Earthgall" is the fourth in a series of seven poems, "Days of Grass" in my book, The Frangible Hour.

For context:

Historically, earthgall (a type of aster), when placed upon the graves of soldiers, was meant to represent a reversal of the outcome of their battles. 

A CNO is a United States military Casualty Notification Officer. 

Thomas Smith Sr. was a POW in Bulgaria during World War II. Thomas Smith Jr. was killed in action in Vietnam. It was common practice to stamp both the soldier’s name and the name of his next of kin on dog tags during the Vietnam War.

Rest In Peace, my heroes.

 

Earthgall

Nabalus serpentarius

 —in memory of my Uncle Tommy and his son, my cousin Tommy Jr.

 

Two Thomases, a father and his son,

lie in a cemetery on a hill

that overlooks the Susquehanna. One,

a gunner with a young man’s iron will

to live, bailed from his doomed B-24,

endured Camp Shumen’s beatings, moldy bread,

survivor guilt, the aftershocks of war,

a rough divorce; yet worse times lay ahead.

 

The Army CNO. The folded flag.

The Valium. The oceans of Jim Beam.

The names imprinted on a metal tag.

The little boy in the recurrent dream.

I used to fear him. Now I realize

the sense behind his reek and glassy eyes.